“the Main Threat to the Stability of the Weimar Republic in the Period of 1919 to 1923 Came from the Political Violence of the Extreme Right.” How Far Do You Agree with This Judgement?

The Weimar Republic would have continued to be a functional government far longer than achieved if not for the defeat of WWI, the economic burdens imposed by the Versailles Treaty, and the flawed Article 48 which all contributed to the down fall of Germany’s first attempt at a legitimate Democracy. This paper will argue that the societal, economical, and constitutional aspects all played a role in the hopeless Democracy Germany attempted which ultimately lead Germany into a totalitarian state that would further shake the world with the rise of the NSDAP and Adolf Hitler.

Due to the failure of the Weimar Republic and general public dissatisfaction arising from poor economic conditions exacerbated by the Treaty of Versailles, coupled with the 1929 Wall Street Crash, German citizens were understandably desperate for change. Until this point in time the Nazi party, and Hitler, had been essentially unpopular. However, the economic situation ensured Hitler’s increasing popularity as the people looked toward more extreme but non-communist ideals. The initial consolidation of Nazi power in 1933 arose from key events such as the support of the Nationalist Party with the Nazis to form a coalition government, implementation of the Enabling

‘The Final Solution evolved because of the chaotic nature of the Nazi regime in the years 1939-42.’ How far do you agree with this opinion?

The Weimar Republic faced many problems. Perhaps the greatest danger was that the constitution gave the President, the states and the army too much power, while proportional voting meant that the Reichstag was divided and weak. In 1919-1923, extremists on both the Left (especially the Spartacist revolt) and the Right (especially the Kapp Putsch) tried to overthrow the government. The worst crisis occurred in 1923, when the French invaded to try to force Germany to pay reparations. This led to hyperinflation and a number of rebellions, including Hitler 's Munich Putsch.

The rise and subsequent take-over of power in Germany by Hitler and the Nazi Party in the early 1930s was the culmination and continuation not of Enlightenment thought from the 18th and 19th century but the logical conclusion of unstable and cultural conditions that pre-existed in Germany. Hitler’s Nazi Party’s clear manipulation of the weak state of the Weimar Republic through its continued failure economically and socially, plus its undermining of popular support through the signing the Treaty of Versailles all lead to the creation of a Nazi dictatorship under the cult of personality of Hitler. This clear take-over of power and subsequent destruction of any

All of these factors made it very difficult for the German people to be trustworthy, faithful and supportive of the regime of the Weimar Constitution. This idea is re-affirmed through German historian Friedrich Meinecke saying that “true loyalty to the Fatherland requires disloyalty to the Republic”, leading to an opening for extremist parties as well as the Republic’s doom.

This is evident as on February 1st 1933 Hitler (through mediums such as the radio) broadcasted his “Appeal to the German People” and the SA began to attack the enemies of National Socialism. As a result of this terror and encouraging the use of violence, twenty one days later the police were reinforced with the SA. This was significantly important in the Nazi consolidation of power as it removed threats and made people support the Nazis and Hitler even if the support was drawn out of fear of them being targetted through means of violence and terror, thus increasing support for them. Hitler stressed the issue of the Communist threat which was more important as it meant that more people would oppose them and even go as far as supporting Hitler to effectively legalise violence which their voters believed was needed in order for them to consolidate power and put a stop to the supposed threat. An example of this is that the Reichstag Fire allowed the police to legally arrest suspects without reference to the courts. Another way that the Nazis consolidated their power through violence was at the appointment of 50,000 SA, SS and Stahlhelm members on 22nd February 1933 to create a wave of violence against communists and SPD supporters. There was a failure on the left which weakened the importance of the terror in violence in consolidating power. This is because, the communists and the SPD didn’t believe that the Nazi

The above section has outlined the three major parties of the Weimar Republic that would attribute to the political instability. It is only a snapshot of the parties within the Weimar Republic, in total there were nine major parties, and this was one of the leading causes of the political

How far do you agree that Hitler’s consolidation of power between January 1933 and August 1934 can be described as a “legal revolution”

Since the Weimar Republic was established in the aftermath of World War One, it was almost inevitable that it would be blamed for Germanys surrender and the Treaty of Versailles. The supposed surrender was even harder to accept since in 1918 Germany had signed an armistice with Russia. Weimar was in essence ‘brought about by defeat’ . The ‘November Criminals’ who signed the armistice were always associated with Weimar, thus making it difficult for Weimar to be associated with anything but defeat and humiliation. The war guilt clause was also difficult to accept because it lay all the blame on Germany for starting the First World War. This along with reparations were crippling not only the economy but German society itself

“Freedom and Justice are twin sisters.” This quote was obtained from Friedrich Ebert, in his inaugural speech when he was elected President of the Weimar Republic in January of 1919. For the past few months, I have been deeply analyzing and researching incessantly some reliable sources to discuss some of the major events and factors that led to the failure of the Weimar Republic which are the Treaty of Versailles, League of Nations, and poor leadership. Well, to start of with, It all goes back to a small town in Germany called Weimar. In this German region, the first constitutional assembly of the Weimar Republic occurred. The name Weimar Republic derives after the location of where the convention took place. Not to mention, the Weimar Constitution was formed after the votes of three political parties in Germany. Before I continue, how did the Weimar Republic actually form? Before the start of World War One, the head of Germany was Kaiser Wilhelm, and despite that he was one of the main causes of the war, he did not took responsibility for it and took some of the German Government money and fled to the Netherlands. Wilhelm was the Emperor of a Monarch Germany up to November 9, 1918, when the Chancellor of that time, Prince Maximilian Von Baden announced the abdication of the Kaiser. Although Prince Maximilian Von Baden was the chancellor for a short amount of time, he is seen as imperative for the formation of Germany into a republic, however his liberal reputation was put

The instability of the newly formed Weimar Republic resulted in a weak government prone to problems, Hitler took advantage of this weakness and introduced a secure alternative. During the hardship of the 1920s and1930s, political incompetence was highlighted, the Weimar Government proved its incompetence time and time again. .The instability of the Weimar Republic was so great that the average life-span of Reich cabinets was from 6-7 months. Their incapability of providing justice to outbreaks of violence, such as political assassinations is one example of the incompetence of the Weimar Republic. When Germany found its self in undesirable economical situations due to the Treaty of Versalles, they printed money to pay off reparations, which resulted in super-inflation. During the period of super-inflation people's life savings became worthless which contributed to the downward circle of a reduction in standard of living. As unemployment rose and people began to afford less and less with their money, people commenced searching for a better alternative to the Weimar Government. Hitler's ability to build upon these feelings whilst offering security, prosperity and full

The Weimar republic from 1919 to 1929 had many successes and failures, starting in chaos and ending in relative stability. However, due to individual perspective these successes and failures were often viewed as both successes and failures- not either. Class, political leanings and other moralistic beliefs, primarily influenced the individual's perspectives. Overall, due to the relative stability, (the aim of any government) primarily achieved by Streseman's influence, the successes outweighed the failures by 1929.

By 1919 Germany’s entire governmental structure that had ruled Germany since 1871 was eradicated. An outbreak of violence fled through Germany while revolutionary communists fought battles with right-wing militias in hopes of gaining control. Through all the violence and mayhem, the Social Democratic party was still able to hold elections for a national assembly, which thus formed the Weimar Republic. This new government sought to bring about a constitution where its sole purpose was to introduce democracy. Throughout the years the Weimar Republic began to decline, it was not able to withhold a democracy. By around 1933 Hitler was able to take advantage of the failing democracy which eventually led to the Nazi party taking total control over Germany. The reason for the Weimar Republic’s collapse was mainly due to reparations paid from World War I, the collapse of the economy by the Great Depression, structural conditions, institutional weaknesses, and an absence of governance. With that said, even if Hitler had not existed, it is very unlikely that the Weimar Republic would have survived.

it had was to give men money and food, which at that time was what